Canon was right to keep the PowerShot G1 X in play when it shipped the G15, as despite their common heritage they're fairly dissimilar cameras.

Redesigned top plate; Colour reproduction; Professional features; Movie performance

Expensive in its field; Some wind noise on movies; Fixed screen

The Canon PowerShot G15 is a new premium compact camera aimed at the DSLR owner looking for a backup model or the enthusiast who wants DSLR functionality without the added size and weight.

Canon's PowerShot G series began in 2000 with the launch of the 3.3-million-pixel G1 and for years it was considered vastly superior to most of its competitors in terms of quality, engineering and specification.

I had been waiting for an update to G12 and Canon hit a bulls eye with this camera. One could argue about G1X etc but I was looking for not just something more portable and handy for the situations when I did not want to lug my DSLR equipment around but something which would provide me with all the...

Fast/accurate auto-focus; Good Image Quality; Good Image Stabilization; Good in Low Light; Great Zoom; Large Clear LCD; Short Lag Time

The Canon PowerShot G15 has had a lot of time to ponder its market position. It's been two whole years since the launch of the previous G12 model, and it's used that time wisely - the G15 is smaller, sports a new design and simultaneously crams in a far brighter aperture f/1.8-2.8 28-140mm...

Wide aperture throughout zoom range is impressive; smaller than predecessor; great image quality straight from camera; raw capture; impressive autofocus in all lighting conditions; excellent stabilisation system

Expensive; bulky; shorter zoom than some competitors; 85 per cent field-of-view in viewfinder is limiting and there's zero focus or settings feedback to the eye; high ISO settings still aren't all that; occasional "black out" issue

With the PowerShot G1 X already here, how does the G15 justify its existence?

Slim and well made body; Fast AF and start-up; Excellent video; Very good AWB performance

No parallax correction in viewfinder; Some image processing issues; Chromatic aberration; Price

Canon's "G" line of cameras have always appealed to point-and-shooters looking for more of a pro experience. The new G15 has some great details - is it a $649.95 camera worth considering?

Two years after releasing the very well-received G12, Canon is back with the PowerShot G15. And this update is a totally reworked camera, with a new 12-Megapixel CMOS sensor, a faster lens and a slightly more compact...

Build quality (quality materials; assembly; robust feel; etc.; Noise handled well up to 1600 ISO; Good handling; plenty of controls and easily accessible settings; Full HD video with a sharp picture and decent stereo sound

Some design features lost: no swivel screen; fewer controls; Lens isn't on par with competitors; Poor-quality optical viewfinder: small; inaccurate; uncomfortable; Video: 24 fps framerate isn't amazingly smooth

The PowerShot G15 ($499) is the latest entry in Canon's long-running series of enthusiast compact cameras. This latest iteration addresses two issues that have plagued recent G-series models: the aperture range of the lens, and focusing performance.

The enthusiast-focused Canon PowerShot G15 delivers excellent image quality, but lacks some features found in other top-end cameras. The G15 is the successor to the PowerShot G12 , a high-end compact camera that is now two years old.